Former first-round draft pick Ahmad Carroll is shown arguing with an official about a defensive pass interference call in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals in October 2005. File/PackersNews.com

First-round draft choices are the lifeblood of an NFL franchise, or so conventional wisdom tells us.

That philosophy has been ingrained in followers of the Green Bay Packers since 1974, when then-General Manager Dan Devine foolishly gave up a pair of first-round draft picks, along with two second-rounders and a third-rounder, for washed up quarterback John Hadl. It was one of the worst trades in NFL history and sent the Packers into a tailspin for years.

A decade later the Packers fumbled again when Forrest Gregg traded a first-round pick for cornerback Mossy Cade, who wound up spending more time in prison than on the Packers roster.

After those disastrous transactions, in which the future of the franchise was mortgaged, there has been a tendency around here to view first-round draft picks as more precious than first-born children. Maybe it's time to reevaluate that mindset, based on the Packers' first-round track record over the past decade and a half.

It could be argued that former Packers General Manager Ron Wolf generated more value by trading a first-round draft pick in 1992 for quarterback Brett Favre than the team has received combined from its 16 first-round picks since.

Listen to Chicago Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo, who recently experienced a revelation.

"I've kind of changed about draft choices, particularly first-rounders," Angelo told Sports Illustrated's Peter King. "I don't have the same conviction on ones that I used to. It's the money, the totally unrealistic expectations, players coming out younger and not as experienced, players with too much time on their hands and too much money and not being grounded enough. I've become a little pragmatic about the first-round picks. They've been looked at like the Holy Grail for so long."

So when Angelo had the chance to trade for quarterback Jay Cutler on April 2, he didn't hesitate to part with a pair of first-round picks, along with a third-rounder and Kyle Orton.

"We felt like it was a good investment for us," Angelo told King. "Time will tell."

By King's assessment, just four of the Bears' 12 first-round picks between 1994-2006 became consistent NFL starters: Brian Urlacher, Tommie Harris, Walt Harris and Marc Columbo. So the logical conclusion is the Bears had very little to lose by trading a pair of unproven first-rounders for an established quarterback like Cutler.

King sums up the Bears' first-round draft picks over that period in two words: "awful, awful."

In my view, the Packers graded out slightly better over that span, even though the Bears were positioned higher in the round every year but one. The Bears owned four top-10 picks, compared to one for the Packers, and should have been more successful. Also working against the Packers was that six times they picked 25th or lower in the first round, while the Bears drafted that low just once.

Although the Packers drafted better than the Bears, they still had more first-round misses than hits.

Five of their 13 first-round selections from 1994-2006 developed into consistent starters: Vonnie Holliday, Bubba Franks, Nick Barnett, Aaron Rodgers and A. J. Hawk. Unlike the Bears' Urlacher during his heyday, no Packers first-rounder has emerged yet as a bona fide superstar.

Four Packers first-rounders had their moments but ultimately didn't last: Aaron Taylor, Craig Newsome, Ross Verba and Javon Walker. And four others can be classified as busts: John Michels, Antuan Edwards, Jamal Reynolds and Ahmad Carroll. In the interest of fairness, 2007 first-round pick Justin Harrell gets one more year to prove himself, but his career arc is headed toward the bust pile.

Packers General Manager Ted Thompson covets draft choices as if his life depends on them, and no doubt loves first-rounders with a passion. It's true he traded out of the first round last year, but moving from No. 30 overall to No. 36 hardly qualifies as gambling away the team's future.

Still, maybe it's not such a bad idea to loosen the grip on Round 1 picks. History has proven there are no guarantees when it comes to first-round selections.

This is not an argument in favor of giving away the store like Devine did, or badly missing on someone's character the way Gregg did. But first-round draft picks are only valuable if they develop on the field. While it's a gamble to trade them away, it's also a risk to expect highly touted college players to excel at the pro level.